This week’s blog takeover is hosted by Drea St James. Drea gives a fantastic insight into the life of an author.
Supporter of all things written, defender of the e-book revolution and master of the take out order are just some of the titles that have been bestowed upon me over the years. I’m not afraid to admit I cannot cook my own food, go a week without breaking something, read labels correctly or park cars in a straight line.

But more than anything I love the written word in all shapes and forms and if I’m not glued to a book I’m attempting to write one. Frequent blonde moments and technical difficulties are unable to deter me from my path to enlightenment – book by book.

I have always had my head in the clouds but a few years ago I started to organize my thoughts and put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and never looked back.

Ideas for stories creep up at the most inopportune moments and I learned to keep a pen and paper in every drawer, shelf and shoe I could get my hands on.

Keeping a notebook handy was my first step towards creating my novel Sticky Notes. After figuring out how to decipher my unintelligible scribble and work around the occasional grease spot, water stain and stick figure drawing, the story found its way onto my computer.

Sticky Notes started out as post it notes, written from one neighbour to another. The story quickly took on a life of its own and the characters decided to take matters into their own hands. They turned into a successful lawyer and renowned gumologist (develops chewing gum). The feud resulted in broken doors, stolen dogs and misunderstandings. It is about two people who are so fundamentally different that it seems impossible they could ever work out.

I had a lot of fun writing this story and can’t wait to publish it at the end of November. It took a while to write Sticky Notes as I was regularly having disagreements with my word program. The feud made me seek out other writing programs. Enter Scrivener. The Holy Grail that saved my sanity and organized my chapters for me. Like the magical tool that it is I was finally able to write a chapter that wouldn’t occur in the story until later. It suddenly didn’t matter if I changed my mind on the chapter order five or twenty times. Creating character backgrounds and places and saving it all in one document helped me keep my sanity and create the book that I had been thinking about for so long.

The road to creating my novel was long but worth it and the people I met along the way are what makes this journey so special. Writing is a solitary activity but a support network of other authors, friends and family helped me keep on track and not feel isolated. I can’t wait to see where my writing journey takes me next.

Thanks so much Drea. It’s great to hear from other authors who genuinely enjoy their work! Wishing you the best of luck for all your future writing endeavours.